Whether you’re an experienced dancer or you’ve got two left feet, the student dance organizations on campus provide plenty of opportunities to bust a move or see an energetic performance. You’ve likely heard of Loon-E Crew, Swing Bums, Top Naach and Prowlers Dance Team, but here’s a rundown of each organization so you can learn more about them, get involved and get dancing.
Loon-E Crew
Loon-E Crew is a hip-hop dance organization for Trinity students. You can catch them performing at events on- and off-campus — such as at Mabuhay, Momentum and other events around San Antonio. Members meet weekly for rehearsals and choreograph their own dances for performances. For those interested in joining, Loon-E Crew holds auditions for new members at the start of each semester.
“The common thing that we get asked is ‘do we have to have experience’ … and it’s nothing like that,” said junior Chancinique Calliham, co-captain for Loon-E Crew. “It’s about people who love dance, that’s mostly what we look for.”
Swing Bums
Swing Bums is a social dance organization on campus for students interested in swing dance. They hold lessons in various styles of swing and blues dance every Friday from 4–5:30 p.m. in the William H. Bell Athletic Center and host social dances each week from 8–9 p.m. in the Fiesta Room. These activities are open to all students. You can also view them along with a live jazz band at Skyline Swing nights on the first Saturday of each month in the Skyline room.
“Everyone should try it. Even if you think you can’t dance … I did not dance at all when I came to Trinity University, and I came and I learned, and the teachers were so helpful and I have decided to continue on. And now I teach most of the weekly Friday lessons. So [I’m] passing it on, hoping everyone comes at some point and learns how to dance,” said junior Alex Bradley, Swing Bums vice president.
Top Naach
Top Naach is the Bollywood dance team at Trinity. Members choreograph and prepare dances for various campus events throughout the year — such as Diwali, Mabuhay and Momentum — and welcome all students interested in Bollywood dance to join the team. One of the organization’s co-captains, senior Sneh Lalani, shared her excitement about their plans for an upcoming performance at Diwali.
“We’re doing a very cool theme of ‘Around the World’. Bollywood has been in the industry for a very long time. … and so [it] has evolved to [include] different kinds of styles, so we’ve had songs that are Caribbean-esque, and we’ve had songs that are way more French-sounding, and we’ve had songs that are more trap, more [like] house music, we’ve had rap songs. We’ve had very different styles but [it’s] still Bollywood. And so we all thought as a group that it would be interesting to showcase all the different types of Bollywood songs and how they’ve taken influence from different parts of the world,” Lalani said.
The Prowlers Dance Team
Prowlers is a dance team and spirit organization on campus with a focus on promoting wellness. Each semester, the group welcomes new members at various levels of dance experience through an audition process. The Prowlers incorporate diverse styles of dance — including jazz and ballet — into the routines they prepare for cultural and sports events at Trinity.
“We like to do a variety of genres and participate in a lot of the cultural events on campus. We have dancers with different backgrounds and styles of dance, so we try to touch on a little bit of everyone’s favorites,” said senior Nathaly Salazar, Prowlers co-captain.
